Martin Luther King Jr. Day Jan. 15

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a United States federal holiday marking the birthday of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, around the time of King’s birthday, January 15. This year, the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service will be recognized on Jan. 15, 2018.  

The poster concept focuses on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Alabama, which was the site of Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965, where state and local lawmen attacked civil rights demonstrators as they attempted to march from Selma to the state capital. The quote showcased on the poster is from Dr. King’s address at the Youth March for Integrated Schools on April 18, 1959. 

The national recurring theme of this holiday is “Remember! Celebrate! Act! A Day On…Not A Day Off.”

It calls upon the American people to engage in public service and promote peaceful social change.  Dr. King’s unfinished movement toward equality can be achieved by our united, enduring efforts. 

While others were advocating for freedom by “any means necessary,” including violence, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used the power of words and acts of nonviolent resistance, such as protests, grassroots organizing, and civil disobedience to achieve seemingly-impossible goals.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  is the only non-president to have a national holiday dedicated in his honor, and is the only non-president memorialized on the National Mall in the Nation’s Capital.  He is honored and remembered in hundreds of statues, parks, streets, squares, churches and other public facilities around the world as a leader whose teachings are increasingly relevant to the progress of humankind.

In 1964, at 35 years old, Martin Luther King Jr. became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize.  He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.  

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